November 10, 2025 by Born To Organize

Celebrating the Gardeners of In a Vase on Monday

A dozen years ago, Cathy at Rambling in the Garden started a meme called “In A Vase On Monday”, or IAVOM. She wanted to challenge herself to regularly cut and arrange flowers and greens from her garden. She also challenged fellow garden bloggers, launching a wonderful garden blog meme. It’s a simple concept: cut flowers from your garden, arrange them in a jar or vase, and share them virtually with others. Gardeners post from the UK, Germany, the US, and other parts of the world. Charming, eh?

I’ve enjoyed sharing a garden vase, off and on, over the years, but I lack the dedication of the Monday Vase die-hards. I applaud all of you.

I’m sharing two vases today that highlight my joy of blogging. For me, it’s about the community formed through sharing photos and words, about finding your people in this sometimes fractious world. “In A Vase on Monday” does just that.

I’ve followed Cathy at Words and Herbs for close to 14 years. She posts a beautiful vase most Mondays.

The vase below holds crocheted flowers, a Mother’s Day gift from my youngest son; however, kitty’s “scarf” is an intended bookmark, straight from Cathy’s crochet hook.

Cathy mailed several crocheted bookmarks for our Little Free Library all the way from Germany. Sweet, right? I placed some of her bookmarks in our tiny library; one became a gift topper for a friend,

A crocheted sunflower with green leaves attached to a decorative envelope featuring a floral and turtle design. — Flower bookmark

A ceramic cat vase wearing a crocheted scarf, surrounded by colorful blooms in a garden setting. — Crocheted bookmark/cat scarf

and this one is now wrapped around my kitty vase and will become part of my vase rotation. Please enjoy Cathy’s extraordinary garden at Words and Herbs.

This second vase is a treasured teacup, a gift from my university friend, Carrielin. I’ve had it for forty years. In mid-October on Eliza Waters’ IAVOM post, I spotted the same cat design. I checked with Eliza to confirm, and sure enough, it’s from the same collection of porcelain art, Couer Minou-ettes, by Portuguese designer C. Pradalie. The pieces aren’t rare, but even so, it delighted me to spot the same design, with flowers, from a fellow garden blogger. Eliza shares from her beautiful garden most Mondays.

If you would like to see what these gardeners and others have shared in a vase today, please follow this link to Cathy’s blog, then check the comments for additional vase posts.

Happy Anniversary in-a-vaser’s.

May 5, 2025 by Born To Organize

In a Vase on Monday: Carnations and Sweet Peas

It’s that time of year when my garden fills with blooms, and I wish I could slow down time. Nature is something else, eh?

Today’s featured vase is a birthday gift for my longtime neighbor and friend, Jasmin. I used a container from an orchid that’s moved to a larger pot. The white provides a nice contrast to the flowers, which include purple, white, and lavender sweet peas, cuttings from the Pittosporum, emerging Nigella damascena, and Dianthus caryophyllus, also known ashybrid carnations, including ‘Georgia Peach’ and ‘Key Lime Pie,’ and the tiniest little flowers from Brunnera macrophylla.

I crafted a card to go with the flowers using a die designed by Eileen Hull to emulate postage.

I’ve been saving a stamp from the Philippines (Jasmin’s country of origin) to use on her card.

I added a birdhouse transfer, something she collects, and rounded out the other spaces with flowers. Jas is a gardener, too.

I’m grateful when bloggers come up with ideas to share mutual interests and to support each other’s creativity.

Thank you to “the Cathys” for inspiring this Monday series. You can visit Cathy at Rambling in The Garden at this link to see several stunning vases worldwide.

April 14, 2025 by Born To Organize

In a Vase on Monday: Freesias and Sweet Peas

Spring’s predictable garden bounty makes my heart sing. It’s a great time to plunk some flowers in a vase and a chance to use my pink ceramic chick.

Sweet peas are slowly emerging in several shades of purple. Conversely, the freesias are winding down, but several white varieties remain in bloom. I added freesias to my vase with cuttings from our Pittosporum tree. The greens are shiny this time of year, with subtle, waxy citrus-scented flowers which generate an intoxicating scent. I hope the arrangement holds up for Easter, but if not, I’ll find more for the table’s centerpiece.

If you enjoy arranging flowers from your garden, Please consider joining us for the occasional IAVOM (In a Vase on Monday). You can reach Cathy at the link below.

Thank you to “the Cathys” for inspiring this Monday series. You can visit Cathy at Rambling in The Garden at this link to see several stunning vases worldwide. Perhaps you would like to share one of your own.

March 24, 2025 by Born To Organize

In a Vase on Monday: Freesias and Muscari

Six weeks post-hip surgery, I’m finally free to bend my hip joint past 90%. It still hurts, but with a series of maneuvers, I can gather garden blooms. Spring is in full swing, so I had many lovely choices. I went with a white and purple palette, with plenty of green to add structure and balance.

White Freesia with a hint of yellow center balances the purple Muscari or grape hyacinth. The Freesia returns yearly in various colors, but the white and yellow blooms dominate. The Muscari is new to my garden, and it did not disappoint. It’s also reputed to spread easily through the garden, so I see more and more of it in my future.

I clipped a few sprigs of greenery from our Pittosporum tree and plopped the flowers in a recycled glass sauce jar wrapped in colorful fabric Washi tape from 49 & Market.

Thank you to “the Cathys” for inspiring this Monday series. It encourages me to bring in some of our garden’s colorful and fragrant goodness. You can visit Cathy at Rambling in The Garden at this link to see several stunning vases worldwide.

June 17, 2024 by Born To Organize

Gardenia’s in a Vase on Monday

Lucky me! After another wet winter, the gardenias put out plentiful, magical, scented blooms, just waiting to be cut for a vase.

I’m joining “the Cathys” for a weekly meme encouraging bloggers to share something “In A Vase On Monday” or IAVOM. It’s a mouthful, and it’s fun.

I’ve arranged five gardenias in a glass jar, some asparagus fern, and a few swigs of purple salvia. Gardenias don’t last long in a vase, but it’s still worth bringing a few indoors. They turn brown and droop, but the intoxicating scent remains. With greenery to keep the flowers company, I can overlook the droop for that scent.

Instead of a vase, I’ve arranged my cut flowers in one of my favorite glass jars. The Quattro Stagionioma sauce is long gone, but the beautiful embossing lives on. It’s challenging to take pictures of glass, but I’m hoping you can see a bit of the pretty pattern.

For some beautiful inspiration, check out some of this week’s vases.

Cathy, the gardener who started IAVOM, shares her gorgeous roses and a history lesson from her English garden today at Rambling in the Garden.

From Cathy’s Bavarian garden, a stunning purple arrangement at Words and Herbs.

Eliza Waters shares the last of her stunning peonies, which were grown in her garden in Massachusetts, US, creating a breathtaking arrangement.

August 7, 2023 by Born To Organize

Sake and Sunflowers: In a Vase On Monday

Cutting sunflowers for a vase was outside my plans. These lovely flowers attract birds, bees, and onlookers, and their presence is uplifting. I want the sunflowers to go to seed so I can offer them to neighborhood squirrels. Offer is a euphemism for “they’ll help themselves while I try to get photos.”

The flower pictured below, however, escaped from the bunch and gently curved across the sidewalk. I propped it up, and it fell again. The message couldn’t be any clearer.

Today’s vase is a sake vessel known as a Shuki. Mike acquired it before we met nearly thirty years ago, and I assumed it had sentimental properties. When I asked him about it this morning, he said, “I have no idea where I got it.” So much for sentimentality, eh, and now I have another container for cut flowers.

Along with the small sunflower, I’ve added burgundy-colored foliage from our Chinese Fringe plant Loropetalum chinense and a few cuttings from a Nandina Nandina domestica. The fern in the back grows prolifically from a plant that once thrived on my nightstand. It moved from container to container over the years but now lives in the soil along the back fence. I’ve had it for 35 years.

Thanks to “the Cathys,” who inspires this weekly challenge to cut and display flowers from one’s garden in a vase on Monday. IAVOM

July 17, 2023 by Born To Organize

Gardenias and Memories in a Vase on Monday

It’s hot and getting hotter, so I had to dash for a few blooms to fill today’s petite vase.

I bought this tiny vase on a trip to Mexico several years ago. Mike traveled there for business, and I got to join him for the last few days.

Once again, thanks to this winter’s heavy rains, my gardenias have continuously flowered for weeks. I’ve been clipping three at a time to enjoy them indoors, deadheading as I go. Even after the blooms yellow and sag, the potent scent remains.

Today’s vase features gardenias, lavender, and a tiny purple flower I can’t seem to name. It grows along the edge of our deck, and most summers, it finds a way to take root and grow through one of the crevices. That always makes me smile.

If you recognize the name of this purple beauty, please let me know.

Please visit the Cathy’s to see what they and others have created for IAVOM.

January 22, 2018 by Born To Organize

In a Vase on Monday: A Tiny Treasure from my Travels

This week, it’s all about the vase. I don’t generally buy travel souvenirs but how could I resist this charming little vessel?

This vase from Puerto Vallarta is pretty on all sides (That’s Tessa our cat walking away in the background)

I spotted the vase on our final day in Puerto Vallarta. It’s small, perhaps the size of a tall shot glass. Once wrapped in protective paper and I stashed it in my purse for the trip home.

Scale is everything with a vase this small. I scouted my limited winter choices and decided on three white camellia camellia japonica and a few sprigs of my beloved fern.

Camellia Japonica

Camellia Japonica bud

The petals were already dropping, so I don’t think the arrangement will last the week, unless this pretty bud opens up. I love that faded pink on the tips.